Spain is starting to curb freedom of speech. Police arrested two puppeteers in Madrid on February 5 that had made entertaining comments that combined the words Al Qaeda and ETA (the Basque separatist group. Some parents had complained, so police stepped in accusing the Raúl García Pérez and Alfonso Lázaro de la Fuente of glorifying terrorism and promoting hatred. They face charges that could result in seven years in prison. The puppeteers, in their own defense, said that Spain’s antiterrorism laws are being misapplied. Their show was intended to condemn “the criminalization of social protest,” not promote terrorism.
This is not an isolated case. There is a lengthening string of prosecutions. A rap musician and a poet are facing two Spanish prosecutions over their free speech rights, while other nations in Europe, such as France and Germany have prosecution cases against those that deny the Holocaust which alarms civil liberties groups and legal experts. France reinforced its laws and strengthened penalties similar to Spain for those accused of praising or inciting terrorism is prohibited.
The laws in Spain are being applied very broadly, as Islamic extremism is Europe’s new preoccupation. They worry that once there is case law behind the prohibitions, there is no telly how the statutes could be applied in the future. These laws, created some time ago, have been strengthened in recent times in light of Islamic extremism. The Spanish government has also harshly penalized unauthorized public demonstrations and taken other measures to curb terrorism. This latest attack on freedom of expression is being compared to the Franco dictatorship, in which troublesome artists went to prison.
Freedom of speech has been an enshrined right in Europe for centuries. Now under attack, free speech could go by the wayside. This would jeopardize religious speech as well, since religion and freedom of speech are closely connected. Even religious speech will be restricted. After all, the Islamic extremists are very religious. Islamic Extremism is the usual reason to take liberties from the people.
Comments
Sean Taylor
Wednesday March 23rd, 2016 at 08:11 PMI think its safe to say, free speech is over! No real need to wait for any false flag terrorist events, or any act of parliament, or for a world leader like the Pope to announce there are restrictions on free speech. We all know that our free speech has ended. We also know that it is because Satan hates Jesus and his followers. The more they try to restrict our speech the louder we will be heard. Its the restriction that maddens the wicked because we are going against the conventional norms of what is acceptable in their opinion.
We need them to restrict our speech if we want to be heard sounding the final message of mercy. Remember the words of the famous martyr who once said, “our blood is like seed, the more of us you mow down, the more of us will spring up. A-men